Looking to Drive Web Traffic on Draft Weekend?

Are you looking for new ways to engage fans on Draft Weekend? Are you looking for ways to provide fans with up to the minute news and information?

Teams looking to offer fans unique content around Draft Weekends and other major events should consider benchmarking CBS Sports' newest initiative, Rapid Reports. CBS is using a Rapid Reports feature on its website (situated on the main page just below the horizontal banner ad on the top of the page) to announce late breaking news from NFL training camps around the nation. The in-depth coverage has proven to be an engaging way to drive new (and repeat) traffic to its site, CBSSports.com.

For the project, CBS has enlisted 32 bloggers to file one-line reports throughout the day (following a Twitter-like model). Each blogger provides concise updates on a daily basis from NFL training facilities and stadiums. The new Rapid Reports feature has surely distinguished CBS Sports from the rest of the pack (even ESPN) when it comes to providing late breaking NFL news and information.

With this being said, sports properties have a unique opportunity to benchmark this tactic (and event take it to the next level) by providing unique content that cannot be found elsewhere. With access to behind-the-scenes information and details, sports properties havea unique opportunity at-hand to provide fans with an in-depth perspective that is both captivating and insightful. On Draft Weekends, fans are looking for as much unique content as they can get.

Therefore, if you can provide a 15-minute tracker on what draftees are doing (who they are talking to, their schedule on draft day, which family members are with them, who designed their clothes, what current players are saying about them), there is a greater chance that fans will continue to return to your site.

Teams looking to drive incremental website hits (either organic or repeat) should consider creating a"Breaking News" feature on the upper-middle section of their website that serves as a hub for breaking newstaking place during significant event weekends. It is important to note that sports properties should only feature this function during times when there will be a consistent amount of updates and activity (if not, consumers will become immune to looking for late breaking information there).

Check out CBS Sports' Rapid Reports feature below: